tedman, great photos. The D40 is a great camera. Set the default exposure to -2/3 of a stop and those photos will saturate a bit better. They are all a bit hot. Just as with film, once you blow it out with a bit of overexposure, it's hard to bring them back. Under expose...please. With film, I used to expose for the blue sky which would beautifully saturate the photo. With digital, just look at what you've got in the LCD after each shot. Great real-world instructions for the D40 here: http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d40/users-guide/index.htm

climbhigh1123, don't waste your money on a D60 or a D40x. If you feel the need to step up, get the D90. It uses the latest generation of chips and software and gets better images.

yeah I did a bunch of research before picking up the d40. At first I wanted the 60 because of the 10 megapixels, but it turns out that the 60 uses the same sensor as the 40 but just crams more pixels onto it. The cost is reduced light sensitivity! Saved me 200$ that I can put towards a fancy lens!

Thanks for the underexposure advice mal, I think I had it clicked up one or two to compensate for the polarizing filter I had on, but yeah I did notice in editing that I took most things down a click or two after the fact. Hey were you out at the Trango hotdog thing in the creek last weekend? my crew went pretty early but I think I heard a rumor that you were showing up later? dunno. good dogs tho! although it would have been hard to find you guys if we hadnt stumbled across it the day before looking for a crag!

I thought they were quite good. I can't offer much advice on the technical aspects myself, but I like most of the composition. The shadow in 0811 really makes that one for me. All in all I like the strong colors as well. Good job!

You may already know this, but your filter (guessing a cir-pol based on those blue skies) is a bit thick for a wide angle lens. That is what created the darkened edges on a couple of those shots. You can find low profile ones to avoid this issue.

It's hard to take a bad photo at Indian Creek, especially the Scarface wall, but these are all pretty good. No need to tear you apart!

The jugging one is pretty clever, but I'd like to see the hands/jugs a bit higher in the frame. A slightly shallower DOF probably wouldn't hurt, but that's pretty minor.

I do want to see more of the landscape in the Scarface ones. They don't have to be horizontals, although 0811 would probably be better that way- it might even be best with a panoramic crop. The timing/body position of the climber are nice.

I want a new DSLR. Mine is almost old enough to go to kindergarten now.